Yankees' hard shots just aren't driving in runs

Alex Rodriguez drove in Curtis Granderson from third base in the fourth inning of Friday night's 4-0 win over the Reds. Granted, it was a groundout to shortstop, but with the Yankees currently having difficulty driving in runners in scoring position, that feat can be newsworthy.

As it turned out, these difficulties didn't hurt them this time, thanks mostly to a stellar performance by Andy Pettitte and homers by Robinson Cano and Raul Ibañez.

But while the win did little in the way of erasing those ugly scoring position numbers, which Friday ballooned to 3-for-48 in the last six games, it did aptly demonstrate what might just be the Yankees' problem. It's not that they're not hitting the ball; both the numbers and the results say they're not hitting it to the right place.

Take the sixth inning, in which the Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs and then hit back-to-back hard grounders that both resulted in outs at the plate, followed by a pop-up to shallow centerfield. The sequence made them 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position on the night. It was A-Rod who started it.

Rodriguez smacked Bronson Arroyo's offering right into third baseman Todd Frazier's chest. He entered Friday night's game hitting .279, but .176 with runners in scoring position. Perhaps more tellingly, of every ball he puts in play with men on second and third, only about 14 percent of them are falling in for hits.

"Al hit a rocket at the third baseman, Raul hit a rocket right at the first baseman," Nick Swisher said. "Different days, it happens. Sometimes you get those broken bat jammers that slide in there. You just gotta keep grinding."

Rodriguez's .148 BABIP (or batting average on balls in play) with runners in scoring position is among the lowest on the Yankees and the middle of their lineup is clogged with players facing similar misfortune.

Swisher, who was hitting .220 with runners in scoring position, has a BABIP of .200. The same goes for Robinson Cano (hitting .176, with a .185 BABIP) and Mark Teixeira (.205, and .229). Both Swisher and Rodriguez went 0-for-2 with runners on second and third Friday night; Ibañez went 0-for-2 despite coming into the game hitting a respectable .290 in run-scoring situations.

"I think it's a skill," manager Joe Girardi said. "The skill part is being able to relax and not go out of who you are. The luck part is hitting it hard and not hitting it at someone."

Added Cano: "No one wants to go 0-for-4 or hit a ground ball double play with the bases loaded."